I have to confess to being a flake last week with my 365 project.
Keeping
this level of intensity up is exhausting. With such lovely weather here in
Bristol, I've struggled to motivate myself - it's much more enjoyable to be
outside in the sunshine with a good book! But, I've made a commitment so this
week I have another bumper crop of 14 steps to share for my
Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author
...Project. Here they are:
Action 1
I've scheduled a series of Tweets and updates on social media with the
countdown to the end of the crowd fund for Solomon's Secrets. It finishes on
28th July and I'm so close now - please pledge and help me over this last
hurdle:
Action 2
I'm giving a talk about Crowd funding at a writing group next week so have
been preparing some notes for it.
Action 3
I had a moment of inspiration last week. I found a Pinterest pin of
interview questions to ask your characters. It got me thinking, under what
circumstances would the hero, Tom Sheridan and the Heroine, Sasha Blake, of my
books be interviewed and be honest with their responses?
For Tom, I thought
about a meeting with a psychiatrist.
As a Special Agent working for a covert
organisation, it would stand to reason that he would have to undergo a regular
psychiatric evaluation to ensure that he was fit for duty in the field. The
scenario I came up with was Tom's annual psychiatric evaluation and I wrote a
short story about it. It's posted here
 |
| Clive Owen, as Tom Sheridan with Agency Psychologist, Dr Carey Sequiato |
Action 4:
When I launch Solomon's Secrets later this year (projected for end
September/start of October) I'd like to enlist some help with the publicity. One
thing I've learned from this crowd funding process is that the moment I
collaborate with others and access other networks, my platform as a writer is
elevated. Having the time to dedicate to my writing business and also the extra
publicity has led to an increase in sales of The Bronze Box in the past couple
of months and I'd like to build on that.
There is a startup in Bristol, Missionly, who connect businesses with
students. The businesses offer rewards to students in exchange for help with
'missions'.
My mission is for a publicist to work with me to build on my
platform, access opportunities for promotion and press and seek out new ways to
market myself and my books.
My intention is not to handover responsibility for my own publicity to
someone else, but to have an assistant that can work with me. I figure two heads
are better than 1! Therefore I've drawn up a job description and person
specification for a student publicist:
 |
| Part of the Job Description |
Action 5:
I met Will from Missionly on Friday 25th and discussed my ideas. I have a couple of changes to make to the Job Description then it will go live on their site at the end of August, ready to recruit a student in the next academic year.
Action 6:
After talking to the pupils at Courtfields School recently I've been
formulating some ideas about writing some Young Adult books. They asked a lot of
questions about my earlier series of unpublished fantasy novels, The Chronicles
of the Colony. I've been drawing up some notes and ideas to rewrite these books
for a young adult audience. I've revisited the original books and started to
plan it all out. Here's an extract:
Action 7:
I was interviewed for Devise blog. Here's the link:
 |
| Devise Blog |
Action 8:
Another beta reader has finished with Solomon's Secrets and I completed
more edits. I now have another beta lined up for a final once over.
Action 9:
I had a proof copy of the paperback version of The Bronze Box come through
and I'm double checking it for more edits. I currently have the 2nd edition
available on eBook and the 1st edition on paperback. Once the second edition is
approved the first edition will be out of print.
Action 10:
Next week we have a Southville Writers event. It's a 1,000 word flash
fiction. Read out a 1,000 words for a chance to win the kitty.
here's the link on Eventbrite
Action 11:
I was going to cop out and read out an extract from Solomon's Secrets but
instead, I've taken an extract from it and reworked it as a short story.
Action 12:
I have less than 3 days until the crowdfund finishes.
I took some pictures holding up a sign looking suitably pathetic in the hope of getting some last minute sympathy pledges!
Action 13:
I wrote an update on the Fundsurfer site
I've been publicising the crowdfund on socail media and have a few friends on there spreading and sharing. Fingers crossed.
I'm arranging to meet the Fundsurfer team on Tuesday, after the fund has completed to discuss what happens next.
Action 14:
It was great meeting Eli and I really enjoyed the interview
She also gave me a lovely write up on her website. Great interview with some tips and information that I want to share with other writers to help them with their own author platform.
What marketing actions have helped you to
boost your business?
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